Do Not Build With Cardel Homes!!

[p3.entertainmen]

We built with Cardel and have been in our home for 9 months and everything has been a problem....some major problems as well.

1. Gas leak in our fireplace as the fitting was loose. ATCO Gas discovered the leak after we called them in when we had a problem with the pilot.
2. Faulty damper on furnace -- no heat for six weeks because they said there was nothing wrong with it and didn't want to address it.
3. Humidifier needs to be replaced.
4. Hole in roof caused leak to bedroom -- damaging the walls, baseboard, and doorframe....took way too many visits to diagnose, fix and then repair.
5. Linoleum has lifted from under the hardwood twice in the same area.
6. Plumbing problems where they had to cut three holes in our ceiling to find the problem. Loud plumbing when water runs through sink still an isse.
7. Severely cracked garage pad due to rebar from driveway work - they probably won't fix it because the crack isn't big enough.
8. Leaky taps.
9. Windows have had to be replaced.
10. Fireplace glass had to be replaced.
11. Hot water tank fan required replacement.
12. OTR Microwave had a faulty magnatron.
13. Paint cracking/peeling.
14. Floor ducts not secured -- I could see my basement clearly through our floor vent on the main floor.
15. Plumbing and vents are touching one another in several places thus causing loud clanking that reverberates through the pipes and vents
16. Tyvek home wrap was still visible at the roof line
17. Stucco crew just showed up with no notice and started working at 8am on Good Friday --- started attaching their scaffolding to the home, woke us up. Cardel didn't advise us at all about the work starting on the long weekend. Not only that, the stucco guys were complete ass holes that didn't know what they were doing.
18. Incorrect wall switch for fireplace, creating resistancde.
19. SHITTY customer service --- won't even inspect the home to be proactive in addressing any further deficiencies -- I've addressed it with the VP and President now and they just don't care once they have your money!

Those are just the 'bigger' issues, we've overlooked alot of the minor items to ensure the big stuff gets fixed.

DO NOT BUY CARDEL!!! Poor communication, poor trades, poor customer service, and shady sales staff. The VP blames his trades but in the end, the purchase agreement says Cardel Home. They are responsible for selecting their tradespeople and therefore, they need to take responsibility for their homes.

Plus, I know for a fact that they have hired staff that have been fired from other companies so they basically hire shitty staff....says something about quality!!!

[5.0]

How are you being compensated? With a list that long of major problems I would want a new house. I haven't ever considered buying a house so I'm not sure what happens in a situation like this, I'm assuming you can't get a refund lol.

Sorry for your luck must be a huge headache!

[p3.entertainmen]

Originally posted by 5.0
How are you being compensated? With a list that long of major problems I would want a new house. I haven't ever considered buying a house so I'm not sure what happens in a situation like this, I'm assuming you can't get a refund lol.

Sorry for your luck must be a huge headache!

Not being compensated at all!!! I don't want a new home every again!! No refunds....basically, we have the one year warranty to address these issues. After that, its all at our own cost. Cardel is horrible! Don't build with them if you ever decide to build.

[Jetta-2.0]

Originally posted by p3.entertainmen



Not being compensated at all!!! I don't want a new home every again!! No refunds....basically, we have the one year warranty to address these issues. After that, its all at our own cost. Cardel is horrible! Don't build with them if you ever decide to build.

they build alot of homes in and around calgary, maybe ur house is just a lemon? ask ur nabors if they have had the same problems as you, or even u should of done ur home work and read better and more reviews about the company. Also they cover for 1 year? u said u have been in the house for 9 mons so ur covered arent you

[creeper]

Originally posted by Jetta-2.0

ask ur nabors

It kind of seems like you're the one who should be doing some homework. What is an idiot like you doing in the Real Estate/Finance section anyways? Nothing for you to see here. Sorry, I mean "nutin 4 u 2 c hear"

[Disoblige]

So you've been there for 9 months, yet you said they cover you for one year. You'll have all those issues fixed, no?

[Jetta-2.0]

Originally posted by creeper


It kind of seems like you're the one who should be doing some homework. What is an idiot like you doing in the Real Estate/Finance section anyways? Nothing for you to see here. Sorry, I mean "nutin 4 u 2 c hear"

oh wow u still understood what i was saying soo smart and ur point is? trying to make a fool of me that i cant spell right? its already known around here its not new news

[jdmXSI]

You should get that Holmes guy on tv to go through your house or call Tony Tiegh(?) on CTV and make thier name public with all that is wrong with your house. You have such a short time to get everything fixed. You're going to have to scare them real good to agree to fix the problems and if they get contacted by the media, I bet they would fold like a cheap lawn chair! No one wants anything to be made public, especially bad press!

[SJW]

It's not just Cardel. Its all new homes. Pieces of shit. Unqualified people putting them together.

I built one with Cedarglen and sold it. I swore never again to buy a new home.

I bought a 15 year old home and this one is built solid.

[Iceman_19]

I would get an independent contractor with a good reputation to come in and inspect the home and write it all up on an estimate or something like that. Take it to cardel, demand it's fixed under warrenty or you are going to be contacting media, as they LOVE this stuff, especially around Xmas. If it's still not resolved, contact media, Holmes on homes, etc, and prepare a lawsuit. Stick it to those pricks! I rented a brand new house in kelowna, and I experienced a lot of the same issues. They were still building multiple houses on the same street, and it still would take weeks to get shit repaired.

[ALBERTA_IS]

I hate to even say it but you should have checked into the builder before you bought. When we were shopping around Cardel was appealing to us until I googled reviews for Cardel. They are one of the worst builders out there. Yes they are only as good as the trades but if they are not dealing with the problems properly then they are to blame. I am very sorry to hear of all the BS you are going through. This is why I built with Homes by Avi, it was so flawless I can't believe it. All the trades were exceptional and did a great job. I hope you get your issues resolved. What I would do if I were you is report them to the BBB, contact media ( Sun, Herald, Global, etc ) and harass the hell out of them. Call them everyday several times a day, fill the VP's voicemail and be very aggressive. Let us know how things go for you.

[HuMz]

Yeah its been pretty common knowledge that Cardel is horrible at dealing with problems when the problems start arrising. A simple google or beyond search would have indicated that which is why I wouldn't even look at a Cardel home when I built.

The problem is that yes your covered for a year, but they will probably try and push these problems back so they don't have to fix them.

Get all of the problems documented with pictures and proper dates. Then just raise a big shit storm like mentioned above. Take it to the media, stand in front of there head office with a big sign saying they ripped you off and to avoid them.

And if all else fails be prepared to get a lawyer.

[Muji]

My uncle had the same sort of issues with a builder here in Calgary, he bought the show home (he thought it would be the best) for $800,000 plus and was not impressed after owning the place for just over one year. He sold it (no $$ lost) and moved onward to a better neighbourhood and a more established home.

Consider selling your place once the repairs are made. Does the faulty workmanship go on record somewhere? I know with vehicles and in my ugly experience motorhomes (never again) they follow you around.

[Revhard]

That sucks. I was very diligent about checking the progress of my house. Every 2nd night. I caught a ton of stuff, and it really minimized the hassle.
A bunch of the neighbors have had it rough, with a different builder though.
Most wrongly trusted the builder and rarely checked. You have a bunch of faulty components listed, so not sure what to think about how to deal with them.
Really though, anything they don't want to fix is going to be a battle.
The price we pay these days has done nothing to help quality.
The old houses are built like crap too. Pre1970 there are good homes, but only skeleton-wise. Wiring is horrible on older homes,etc.

Hope you can get the majority solved.

[Mibz]

You can't really blame Cardel for your microwave breaking :P

Seriously though, I've been in my Shane home for 4 months now and we've had a grand total of 6 minor issues, all of which were taken care of during our 3 month inspection. That said, like Revhard, we had quite a few big problems during construction, but we brought those up -during- construction and they all got fixed right away.

Building a house was honestly way less stressful than I expected and I'm living in my dream home. Sure I'm closer to Okotoks than downtown, but I like the South

[garnet]

^^ all the above are right, except you needn't stand outside with a sign LOL

seriously, get hold of a decent lawyer ASAP, get EVERY single issue listed in a letter
with a lawyers letter head, you'll see them jump to it, especially if listing that you're aware of the warranties date(s) and will take actions before then if not satisfied of thier efforts

there is legal precedent for this exact thing, by having an order placed against cardel to complete items, is one option, regardless of the 1 year new home warranty program

you can find some further info here as well (alberta new home warranty program)
http://www.anhwp.com/

Originally posted by p3.entertainmen

Not being compensated at all!!! I don't want a new home every again!! No refunds....basically, we have the one year warranty to address these issues. After that, its all at our own cost. Cardel is horrible! Don't build with them if you ever decide to build.

[Phenix]

When they were building did you go out to the house and inspect things going in ?

[lil_Civic_HB]

I just took posession of my Cardel home about 3 weeks ago and all the things we marked down during our walk through is pretty much fixed within weeks and so far I think the quality of the house is pretty good. I guess we will see a few months down the road if I run into the same problems as you do. Which neighborhood did you build in? Most Cardel complaints that I read up on are all houses located in the South.

[Masked Bandit]

Search beyond for "Cardel" and you could spend days & days reading the problems people (myself included) have had with Cardel.

Cardel as a home builder = Hyundai in the late 1980's / early 1990's.

[tictactoe2004]

The only thing that is worse than Cardels build quality is their service, so long as Cardel builds houses I will anyone looking for one how bad they are.

The only good thing about my Cardel home is the floor plan and the plumbing company they use has AMAZING service and really seems to stand behind their work (Deer Bridge Plumbing). Deer Bridge Plumbing went out of their way to fix two things that went wrong and were out of warranty at no charge to me.